


Cloud-watching

by jdjunkie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-04
Updated: 2011-02-04
Packaged: 2017-10-15 09:28:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/159410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdjunkie/pseuds/jdjunkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s okay. I’m okay. Sorta. Days like this ... make things sort of okay.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cloud-watching

There was a cloud that looked like an eagle in flight, and another that looked like a Jane Austen bonnet. Jack wouldn’t see them like that; Jack would see an F-15 and a hockey player’s helmet. That made Daniel happy. From his vantage point flat on his back in the grass, he smiled.

A lot of things were making him happy today.

PC4-177, known by Jack as Don’t Worry, Be Happy World, was proving to be a cakewalk.

The folk here were peaceful. They lived a simple life and had no need for, or interest in, the seemingly vast deposits of naquadah to be found in the earth. A non-cartouche world, it had escaped the attention of the Goa’uld, and society was developing and evolving at its own natural, measured pace. Its leaders were open to making alliances and forging friendships, and best of all, Daniel had been led to a cave system adorned with the most beautiful painted images and words; rumours, lies and fairytales enough to keep him absorbed and delighted for days.

Sam’s mini-lab -- about two clicks from the cave system -- was showing the kind of soil results that would give the Pentagon hawks multiple orgasms, Teal’c was back in the village learning new tricks from the Elders, who practiced a pretty intense form of meditation to cleanse mind and soul, and Jack ... Jack was watching it all and letting his team have some fun.

Daniel sighed. The sun peeked from behind Jane Austen’s bonnet and flooded the meadow outside the cave, where Daniel was lying, taking five, with glorious warmth. It was the warmth of early spring, the kind of warmth that made you want to stretch and soak it into your very bones.

  
Back home, it was early winter. The daylight hours were getting shorter and the nights getting colder. It was the beginning of what Daniel thought of as the hibernation months. If he could metamorphosize into a furry, burrowing creature, he would do it in a heartbeat. He hated the cold with a passion.

In winter, he yearned for the heat of Egypt and Abydos.

In spring, he started to feel alive again.

He picked a blade of grass and chewed on it, still watching the clouds, squinting against the brightness.

“Lying down on the job Dr. Jackson?” Jack’s shadow blotted out the sun and the warmth.

“If I was at my desk at the Mountain, I’d classify it as a screen break,” Daniel said, gesturing with his hand for Jack to get out of the way of the light and heat.

Jack rolled his eyes but moved anyway, groaning as he bent on creaking knees to sit beside Daniel. He took off his sunglasses and looked around. “It’s quiet round these parts. Where is everyone?”

Daniel kept his eyes on the skies. “Mynar and Glasnig have returned to the village to find some scrolls that detail research carried out many years ago on the cave drawings. They’ll be an hour or so yet. You heard from Sam and Teal’c?”

“Yep. Happy as sandboys both of ‘em.” Jack pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned his glasses.

Daniel tapped Jack on the arm. “See that cloud? What does it look like to you?”

Jack craned his neck. “A cloud.”

Daniel sighed. “Every cloud looks like something. You just have to ... look.”

Jack lay down, shuffling until he was comfortable, shoving the handkerchief back in his pocket as he did so. He looked for a while. “Nope. I got nothing.”

Daniel sighed again. “You’re not trying.”

Jack tried some more. “Well, it kind of looks like a hockey helmet.”

Daniel laughed. An honest to god , laugh-out-loud, from the belly, laugh.

  
“What?” Jack asked, sounding mildly hurt.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. I just ... I thought you might say that.” He laughed some more, toning it down in deference to Jack’s bruised feelings.

Jack turned to look at him. “I like it when you laugh. You don’t laugh enough.”

Daniel looked at him, surprised at the warm affection he saw there. “There hasn’t been much to laugh about lately.”

The silence that fell between them was heavy. Sha’uri had been dead for three months. Her name hadn’t featured in any conversation between them, save for the short, painful one in the corridor during the whole Ke’ra fuck-up.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said, in a rush, the words tumbling out.

Daniel turned his head away and went back to considering the clouds. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Sorta. Days like this ... make things sort of okay.”

They lay side by side as the sun played hide and seek with the clouds and Daniel wondered what Jack was thinking. Daniel was thinking how the warmth of the sun was making him a little sleepy and how his body felt relaxed and languid. He closed his eyes.

He drifted to the sounds of birds singing and grass shushing and then he thought he must be dreaming, because he felt a gentle pressure on his lips, as though someone was taking his mouth in the most achingly soft, tender kiss. The lips moved, pressed to his top lip, nuzzled until his mouth opened and the kiss deepened. It was beautiful and astonishing and moved him to the point where he thought he might cry from the depth of love he felt in this simple act.

It was a just a kiss, but in that second, it was everything.

A series of featherlight touches of lips ended the kiss, and he felt desperate at the loss of contact.

Daniel opened his eyes. Jack was leaning over him, not touching, watching carefully, his eyes giving nothing away.

Daniel swallowed, then blinked. He knew instantly that the next move was his. He could say nothing and it would never be mentioned again. Or ...

“There’s a Jack-shaped shadow blocking my sun,” Daniel whispered, his voice sounding a lot calmer than he felt. His heart was pounding.

“I can move. If you want,” Jack said, and this time his eyes were willing Daniel to give the answer he wanted to hear.

“It’s okay. I like the shape of this cloud.”

Jack smiled, the relief obvious. “What does is remind you of?” he asked, gently.

“You, Jack. Just you.”

ends


End file.
